


According to Type

by kitestringer



Series: Beginning of Days [1]
Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Gen, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-25
Updated: 2010-04-25
Packaged: 2017-10-09 03:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitestringer/pseuds/kitestringer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius Black breaks with family tradition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	According to Type

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://maverick4oz.livejournal.com/profile)[**maverick4oz**](http://maverick4oz.livejournal.com/) and [](http://pollitt.livejournal.com/profile)[**pollitt**](http://pollitt.livejournal.com/) for being a very encouraging test audience, and to [](http://kaynyne.livejournal.com/profile)[**kaynyne**](http://kaynyne.livejournal.com/) for helpful suggestions and "Britpicking." :-)
> 
> Originally posted in October of 2006.

'Well well well. I haven't seen a boy from the House of Black cross my path in some time...'

Sirius rolled his eyes and made a show of stifling a yawn. Judging from the way the Gryffindor woman who put him there had been glaring when she set the Sorting Hat on his head, he felt sure she wanted to order him to sit up straight, so he slouched even further on the stool and let his feet swing lazily, kicking back and forth against the legs.

'Interesting..._very_ interesting. _Unprecedented,_ I'm tempted to say.'

_Get on with it, would you?_ Sirius could scarcely imagine what a prat he looked like with this massive, mangy old hat on, and he wanted it off as quickly as possible.

The Hat itself seemed not to be bothered by his fidgeting impatience. 'A rare mind, very impressive... A potential for great power, yet precious little desire for it...'

The other first-years, standing in a line behind him, began shuffling restlessly and whispering amongst themselves. Beneath the brim of the Hat, he could see the students sitting closest to the front of the hall watching him with cheerful, knowing grins. Sirius eyed them with cool disinterest.

'And yes, yes...you think yourself fearless, don't you, young man?' the Hat continued. 'And you're very nearly right there. Very nearly.'

'What do you think I'm scared of, then?' Sirius demanded out loud, outraged. A few students snickered. The Hat chuckled along with them.

'Yes, it's as I suspected the moment you sat down. I think it's going to have to be..._Gryffindor!'_

Sirius's mouth fell open. _The first in his family. The first ever._ He hopped down off the stool in a slight daze, soaking in the wild applause that had erupted at the Gryffindor table and the murmurs and whispers coming from the Slytherins. As a group of Gryffindors made a place for him at their table, grabbing his hand to shake it and patting his back congenially, a thrill ran through him that had his toes curling in his boots. He had to grasp the bench beneath him with both hands to hide the way they were trembling. From the Slytherin table, his cousin Narcissa, whose gaze he'd been avoiding since he entered the Hall, smirked at him, shaking her head in a mockery of regret. She was no doubt wondering how quickly she might get an owl to his mother.

He knew he'd never hear the end of this at home. How many relatives had he been forced to sit and listen to as they reminisced about their Slytherin days? How many times had that pompous git Slughorn been invited for dinner in recent months, seemingly for the sole purpose of grooming Sirius to be a right little credit to Slytherin House? And his mother...

'All right?' an older boy next to him said, in a rather common, working-class sort of accent. 'You had the Slytherins in a right bloody frenzy there. You famous or something?'

Sirius half-turned to him and raised an eyebrow. 'You've never heard of my family?'

'Sorry, no. My parents are Muggles, see. Don't know much about wizarding families and all that.'

Sirius had a sudden, very vivid vision of his mother's face, mid-rant, shrieking about mudbloods and filthy blood traitors. With a heartfelt grin, he reached out to clasp the other boy's offered hand.


End file.
